115 Pa. 112 | Pa. | 1887
delivered the opinion of the court, January 24th, 1887.
Plaintiff’s right to recover in this case involved substantially two propositions, both of which it was, incumbent on him to maintain: 1st. That the ticket which the conductor refused to honor, on February 16th, 1884, was then good for passage from Sunbury to Philadelphia; and 2d. That the conductor, by whom he was forcibly ejected from the car, was at the time an employee of the railroad company defendant, acting within the general scope of his authority as such conductor. If the testimony tended to prove both of these propositions, there was error in withdrawing the case from the jury and directing a verdict for defendant.
As to the first proposition, the substance of the testimony is that, on February 12th, 1884, plaintiff, for himself and party, purchased from the ticket agent of the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad Company at Akron, Ohio,four “ Special limited ” tickets from that place to Philadelphia, via the Elmira & Williamsport, Philadelphia & Erie, Northern Central and Pennsylvania Railroads. Before doing so, he infor.med the ticket agent- that they wished to stop, en route, at least thirty-six hours, at Moutandon Junction, a short distance west of Sunbury, and was assured by him that the tickets he was about to issue would permit them to do so ; that they would be good over each- of the roads named in the respective coupons until midnight of 18th February. The date on the margin of each ticket was accordingly punched by the agent for
Attached to the ticket held by plaintiff, as well as each of the others, were four coupons, calling respectively for “one first-class passage,” “Elmira to Williamsport, via Elmira & Williamsport It. It.,” “ Williamsport to Sunbury, via Philad’a & Erie Railway,” “Sunbury to Harrisburg, via Northern Central Railroad ” and “ Harrisburg to Philad’a, via Pennsylvania R. R.” Plaintiff and each of his three companions, being provided with one of these coupon tickets, started on their journey and reaching Montandon Junction on the Philadelphia & Erie Railway stopped off, as they had arranged to do before leaving Akron. On their way thither, they used all the coupons except the two last named. Having purchased local tickets to Sunbuiy, the terminus of the Philadelphia & Erie Railroad, they checked their baggage through to Philadelphia and resumed their journey on February 16th. The local tickets were, of course, taken up on the way to Sunbuiy. After leaving that place, plaintiff offered his through ticket to same conductor in charge of same train. He refused to receive it and demanded full fare over the Northern Central Railroad to Harrisburg. Plaintiff then called his attention to the punched date on margin of the ticket, showing that it had two days yet to run, and told him what occurred between himself and the agent from whom it was purchased ; but the conductor insisted on payment of full fare, and, upon plaintiff’s refusal to pay, ejected him and his companions from the car, refusing at same time to give them their Baggage. After waiting several hours at a way station, they boarded the next east-bound train.- Plaintiff then offered to the conductor the rejected ticket and it'was received, without objection, for passage to Harrisburg, and thence to Philadelphia. Thus the ticket which the former conductor pronounced worthless the others recognized as valid.
The fact that, with the single exception complained of, the ticket was honored on all the roads named in the respective coupons, tends to prove that it was issued under some arrangement between the companies operating them and the New York, Pennsylvania -& Ohio Railroad Oo. In other-words,
We conclude, therefore, that the testimony was sufficient to have warranted the jury in finding the first above stated proposition. If so, the confpany operating or carrying passengers over'the Northern Central Railroad — on the line of which the alleged trespass was committed — was bound, by tlie act of its agent in selling the ticket, to honor the coupon, at least for one continuous passage over that road, at any time before expiration of the limit indicated by the punched date on the ticket; and the ejection of plaintiff from the ear by its employee was a trespass for which it is answerable in damages.
As to the second proposition, we think the testimony was sufficient to have justified its submission also to the jury. It is practically conceded that defendant company was then operating the Elmira & Williamsport R. R. and Philadelphia & Erie R. R., and the testimony tends to show that the train in which plaintiff was carried to Sunbury, the terminus of the latter road, was the same train that passed over the Northern Central R. R., all the while in charge of the same conductor
The evidence in support of the second proposition is more than a seintilla. In the absence of rebutting testimony, the jury might well have found that the alleged “trespass was committed by an employee of defendant company, as conductor of one of its trains.
We think, therefore, that the learned judge erred in withdrawing the case from the jury and directing a verdict for defendant.
Judgment reversed and a venire facias de novo awarded.